Commission pushes ICT use for a greener
Europe

As part of its effort to combat climate change and
drive economic recovery, the European Commission today called on Member States
and industry to use information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve
energy efficiency. These technologies are expected to reduce total carbon
emissions in Europe by up to 15% by 2020. ICT can not only improve monitoring
and management of energy use in factories, offices and in public spaces but
above all help make people more aware of how they use energy. With smart
metering in their homes, for example, consumers have been found to reduce their
energy consumption by as much as 10%.

"Targeting energy-efficient and low-carbon growth will help Europe face
its biggest challenges: climate change, energy security and the economic
crisis." said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and
Media. "ICT have an enormous untapped potential for saving energy right
across the economy. I personally would recommend to the ICT sector to show the
way for the rest of the economy by reducing its own carbon footprint already by
2015 by 20%. I see from the response of European ICT companies to the
Commission's ongoing work that Europe is already well ahead in using ICT for
greening the economy."

Spreading the use of technologies that allow people and business to carry out
their daily activities in a more energy efficient way are crucial to meeting the
EU's 2020 climate change goals. ICT are now embedded in almost all parts of
Europe's economy.

The ICT sector itself is responsible for 2% of carbon emissions in Europe:
1.75% resulting from the use of ICT products and services, and 0.25% from their
production. While the ICT sector should set itself ambitious targets for
improving its own energy and carbon footprint it will lead to the biggest
energy-efficiency gains when used in the wider economy. The use of ICT across
all sectors of the economy and society can reduce the remaining 98% of European
emissions.

ICT-enabled systems can reduce, for example, energy consumption of
buildings in the EU by up to 17% and carbon emission in transport logistics by
up to 27%.

Smart meters can give consumers comprehensive information about their energy
consumption and its cost. Results from trials in a number of Member States show
that using smart meters can lower energy consumption by up to 10%. Smart
meters generate more accurate information on consumer demand, which in turn can
be used by electricity suppliers to manage their own networks in such a way as
to reduce unnecessary production, losses and thus lower carbon emissions.

Today the Commission announced its intention to set out concrete measures
that will pave the way for ICT to contribute to energy efficiency gains and
emission reductions. It will also call on the ICT sector to lead the way by
setting itself concrete targets to become more energy efficient, by
collectivelyagreeing a common approach to measuring energy performance
and benchmarking progress.

The Commission also announced a new public consultation to establish a
common base for commitments to and claims of improved energy efficiency. Only by
identifying who does what within the set deadlines, that targets have a real
chance of being achieved.

The Commission will adopt in the second half of 2009 a Recommendation with
more specific measures once the results of this consultation have been
analysed.

The Commission will also call for working partnerships between theICT sector and the other major energy-using sectors (including buildings
and construction and transport logistics)to further improve the energy
performance through the use of energy-efficient ICT tools such as heating,
ventilation, lighting and design,

Although smart metering is currently being discussed in the context of the
third internal energy market package, the Commission will nevertheless call
upon Member States to agree on EU-wide minimum functional specifications for
smart metering that will enable consumers in particular to effectively
manage their energy needs.

It will call upon Member States, central, regional and local authorities to
take the lead in driving demand for innovative ICT-based solutions through
procurement, innovation programmes, pilot projects and exchange of best
practices. The Commission is working already with the Committee of the Regions
on delivering a practical guide for regional and local authorities on
improving energy performance through innovative use of ICT.

Background

On 10 January 2007, the Commission adopted an energy and climate change
package, endorsed by the European Parliament and by EU leaders at the March 2007
European Council, targeting a 20% increase in the use of renewable energy and a
20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020 (IP/07/29).
On 13 May 2008 the Commission announced that it would promote the role of ICT in
meeting these goals by improving energy efficiency throughout the economy (IP/08/733).
In December 2008, the EU reiterated its commitment to meeting these targets and
stressed the urgency of improving energy efficiency (IP/08/1998).

Today's Communication, as well as a link to the new public consultation,is available at:

* The baseline is the year in relation to which the reduction/improvement
target is set.

Source: Appendix 4/75; Appendix 4: Company commitments of publication SMART
2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age. A report by The
Climate Group on behalf of the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI), GeSI
[www.gesi.org] is an international strategic partnership of ICT companies and
industry associations and EPA Climate Change Leaders Partnership website: